Glories of old were repeated and recaptured at Leeds United under Andrea Radrizzani’s ownership, the Italian has said. Elland Road’s outgoing chairman was speaking in Italy on Wednesday at the unveiling of Andrea Pirlo as Sampdoria head coach.
While Radrizzani’s name technically remains above the door in LS11, his tenure is very much in its final throes as 49ers Enterprises’ takeover is processed. The 48-year-old was absent as United were relegated last month and his attention has seemingly been dominated by the Serie B outfit for some time.
However, he did not miss an opportunity to mention his Leeds legacy in Italy on Wednesday, as reported by Football Italia. As he introduced Pirlo and his reasons for hiring the Azzurri legend, Radrizzani said he would look to restore Sampdoria to their former glories of the 1990s, much in the way he did the same for the Whites.
“We managed to save Sampdoria from bankruptcy, which would have killed half of the city of Genoa,” he said. “This is just the beginning, now we must talk about football.
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“We are here to present the first steps of our projects, who are [head coach] Andrea Pirlo and Nicola Legrottaglie, our head of performance. I’d like to explain our targets.
“We are still facing a few issues. We bought a club with many difficult situations. We are committed from day to night to restructuring a company which was poorly managed.
“We want to have medium and long-term targets. I think of the Sampdoria of the 90s that gave emotion and joy to fans. That’s why we picked a coach that wants to keep possession and has a defined identity.
“There are characteristics of the Samp of the 90s [I] want to bring back. Samp are one of the most represented and loved teams in the world.
“We want to return to that era [the 90s] with respect and style and remember the glorious past with an innovative view. That’s what I did at Leeds in the last six years and it’s what I want to do here.”
Under Radrizzani’s ownership, Leeds went from the middle of the Championship to the top half of the Premier League before returning to the second tier before his exit. He oversaw the hiring of Marcelo Bielsa, but also the Argentine’s sacking and subsequent appointment of Jesse Marsch.
